Above ground

Posted by James Briggs on March 04, 2008 at 14:50:

In Reply to: Above ground posted by Smokey Stover on March 03, 2008 at 13:28:

: : What does the saying 'It's a great day to be above ground' mean?

: That's a sentence, but not what I would call a saying. The cliché is: "It's a great day to be alive." If you're above ground you're probably alive. Or you could be a coal miner, glad to spend a day outside the mine. Without context, I would guess that it's a clever substitution gone wrong, with above ground substituted for alive.
: SS

There was a famous US golf caddy, possibly Arnold Palmer's, who always had the same reply when asked how he was - 'above ground and breathing'. The 'breathing' bit is rather important!